Outlook: We will still be pretty young again," Massen said. "Starting two sophomores and a junior. We will need to create some turnovers to get some easy opportunities for points on the offensive end. We obviously would love to win conference and just want to be more competitive in games this year."

Outlook: "We have to find out through hard practice who we are and what we do best and then continue to improve to become a good team," Jensen said. "We lost a very good point guard and a post player last year so those areas are a concern right now."

Outlook: "We always strive to be in the mix for the conference championship. We have great leadership with Hawkins and Castellano. Hawkins will be a three year starter and Castellano a two year starter this year. Bolder and Anderson both played on varsity last year and give us experience. Our kids are very coachable and have very good chemistry. Our conference should be really good this year. Marathon, Newman, Pittsville, Edgar and Northland Lutheran all bring back a lot of players. Stratford and Assumption lost a lot but are always well coached and have good young talent. It should make for a great conference race and an exciting season."

D.C. EVEREST

Head coach: Cory Heckel, 5th season

Wisconsin Valley Conference

Last season: 23-3, 12-0 conference, lost to Oshkosh North in Sectional Final.

Outlook : "We look to be selfless and be great teammates. If we do that we look to contend in a very competitive conference," Heckel said. "We also look to improve over the course of year and make a playoff run."

Outlook: If we can play with the same desire and commitment as we do during the football season we certainly can be very competitive," Heidmann said. "The conference will be very tough to win. Every team is well coached and we have to bring our A game each night if we expect to win.We have one of the best players in the league with Caden Untiedt. Great size in David Kornack.A physical player in Will Hannemann. Quickness at the guard position with Travis Haanstad and Blake Lehman." Tyler Kirsch continues to adapt after a couple of years out of basketball but will definitely factor into the level of our success. We are looking for a top 3 finish in the league.

GREENWOOD

Coach: Rob Love, first year

Conference: Cloverbelt East

Last year: Lost in second round of regionals with a 13-11 record

Key returners: Josh Cook, Westin Wuethrich, Tyler Johnson

Key newcomers: Dillon Serocki, Ty Rachu, James Hlavac

Outlook: "It is a rebuilding season with only two starters returning," Love said. Our goal is to work hard and play with a lot of energy and put ourselves in a position to be competitive in every game we play."

Outlook: "We have a deep, athletic and skilled team led by seven seniors," Soderberg said. "David Jesperson is the odds-on favorite to be player of the year in the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Shooting the ball and defense will be our strengths while overall height is a challenge."

Outlook: "Our team played together really well in the summer," Bruess said. "We share the ball and should be balanced in scoring. We have more depth than in years past and newcomers will compete for time. Our goal is to be competitive in the GNC and get better throughout the season so we are playing our best basketball in the playoffs."

NEWMAN CATHOLIC

Head coach: Jeff Gress, 11th year

Conference: Marawood South

Last year: 8-17 overall (5-9 in conference), Lost to Marion in the regional final.

Outlook: "We have a team that plays very unselfish basketball," Gress said. "They have good attitudes and great work ethic. We will be a fast paced team applying a lot of pressure defensively and playing an up-tempo style on the offensive end. Our goals this season are to improve our man defense and to limit our turnover count. We want to finish in the top three in our conference and to make it to the sectionals."

Outlook: "A very young team that posses strong possibilities on inside play and shooting," Rhodes said. "Will get better as they gain varsity experience. Depth and desire are strong team assets. Need to work on developing a presents on defense."

ROSHOLT

Head coach: Steve Schoofs 23rd year

Conferece: Central Wisconsin 10

Last year: We were 10-13 and lost in the opening round to Crandon 50-30

Outlook: I feel we have the makings of being competitive. We have 7 seniors and 3 juniors and this experience should help as the games build up and get tougher. I feel we could be a top 4 conference contender and our tough non-conference schedule should keep our players focused on bringing their "A" game each and every night.

SPASH

Head coach: Scott Anderson, 4th year

Conference: Wisconsin Valley

Last year:11-12, Third in the conference, lost 50-36 to Neenah in the Regional

Outlook: "We hope to be competitive in a very balanced conference," Anderson said. "We are a young team that wants to get better as the year goes along and be playing our best basketball at the end of the year."

Outlook: "We have a very young team with only 3 players with varsity experience. With no Seniors, this team is looking forward to working hard to improve everyday, every week and every game we play. If we can accomplish this we should stay very competitive in our conference."

Outlook: Nyberg, Jarvensivu, and Ahrens started all 24 games last year, with Fletcher Schoone starting 23 of last year's contests. Tomahawk won a WIAA Playoff game for the first since the 05-06 season, when they defeated Wittenberg Birnamwood 59-46 in the WIAA Regional quarterfinals.

Outlook: We will be veryyoung, but The kids really like to play and we will get better as the season progresses," Witter said. "It is coach speak, but we really want to have continual improvement and our schedule is brutal but I think we can be pretty good by the end of the season."

WISCONSIN VALLEY LUTHERAN

Head coach: Werner Gross, 6th year

Conference: Independent

Last year: 10-13, lost in first round of regionals to New Auburn, 43-39

Outlook: "We have a lot of returning experience and there is a lot of competition for floor time this year as we have more depth than we've had in several years," Ebel said. "Our goal is to compete every night we step on the floor and make every game a battle by playing hard on the defensive end of the floor. Our goal is to finish in the upper echelon of our conference and earn a home game in the first round of playoffs."

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Local Boys Basketball Capsules

Coach: Brad Podevels, ninth year Conference: Marawood North Last year: We finished second in Conference and lost to Cadott in the first round of playoffs 48-46 Key retuners: Eric English, Nathan

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